Evanescence - Missing (2002)

After Evanescence was formed by Amy Lee and Ben Moody in 1995, the band released three EPs and one demo CD 'Origin', before signing to Wind-up Records in January 2001. Since the release of 'Origin', a number of out-takes have surfaced, and so we start this album with three of them, including a live recording of 'Catherine', one of their few co-compositions, and also 'Listen To The Rain', which was written by Lee for her high school choir, the Pulaski Academy Mixed Choir. In the eight years between Lee and Moody meeting and them signing their record deal, they composed many songs, writing together about two or three times during that period of time, and the best of these were chosen for their debut album 'Fallen'. The album was recorded in California at Track Record Studios, NRG Recording Studios, Ocean Studios, and Conway Recording Studios, and the songs were taped as demos before they were professionally recorded, and as some of the songs didn't make it to the album, these demos of unreleased material are now highly sought-after. 'Whisper', from the 'Origin' CD, was re-recorded a number of times, before eventually appearing as the final track on 'Fallen', and the version known as 'Whisper 2002' has a superb 80-second intro which is missing from the album version, as well as being noticeably shorter. 'Anything For You' was recorded during the demo sessions, and is the fastest Evanescence song in terms of tempo, with a background choir singing a line from the 'Lacrymosa' part of Mozart's 'Requiem Mass In D Minor', a theme which later resurfaced on their song 'Lacrymosa' from their 2006 album 'The Open Door'. 'Missing' is an outtake which later turned up as the b-side to the Australian release of 'Bring Me To Life', while the demo of 'Before The Dawn' seems lyrically similar to 'Anywhere', with keyboard-player David Hodges hoping that it would appear on 'Fallen', although it was still left off. 'Farther Away' (sometimes incorrectly listed as 'Further Away') is an outtake from 'Fallen', and later appeared as a b-side, first to 'Bring Me To Life', and then later to 'Lost Whispers', while 'Bleed' has a number of titles, often being referred to as 'I Must Be Dreaming' and/or 'Untitled', although according to BMI, 'Bleed' is the official title. 'Forever You' is another unreleased  demo, which was originally named 'C Sharp' after the guitar tuning of the song, and that's followed by a demo of 'Surrender', with the album closing with 'Breathe No More', which was intended for 'Fallen' before it was scrapped, later appearing on the 'Elektra: The Album' compilation in 2005. Considering that 'Fallen' has sold over 15 million copies since its release, Wind-up Records made the insane demand that the band hire a rapper as a full-time member, and have him feature on most of the tracks or they'd refuse to release it. The band refused to comply, later agreeing to add a male vocal on only one song, the lead single 'Bring Me To Life', and the sales of the album prove that they made the right decision. These demos and out-takes from their first professional recording sessions, collected together under the apt title of 'Missing', show that they had a clear vision of their future even back then, and they weren't going to take any shit from idiotic record companies who thought they knew better.

Track listing

01 Catherine
02 Demise
03 Listen To The Rain
04 Whisper 2002
05 Anything For You 
06 Further Away
07 Before The Dawn 
08 Forever You
09 Bleed 
10 Missing 
11 Surrender
12 Breathe No More 

Evanescence - Solitude (1999)

Evanescence was founded by singer, pianist and songwriter Amy Lee and former lead guitarist and songwriter Ben Moody after they met at a youth camp in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1994. Their first songs were 'Solitude' and 'Give Unto Me', written by Lee, and 'Understanding' and 'My Immortal', written by Moody, although the songs were edited by both artists, and they shared equal writing credit. Two of Lee and Moody's songs found playtime on local radio stations, raising local awareness of the group and creating demand for a show, and when the band eventually appeared live they became one of the most popular acts in the area. After experimenting with band names, such as Childish Intentions and Stricken, they decided on Evanescence, which means 'disappearance' or 'fading away', and under that name they released two EP's in 1998 and 1999. The first was the self-titled 'Evanescence EP', of which about 100 copies were made, and which was sold at Vino's Bar, and also handed out to family members of the band for $15 a copy. The second was the 'Sound Asleep EP', also known as the 'Whisper EP', which was limited to just 50 copies, which Moody burned onto CD-Rs on his computer. This EP was released in collaboration with Sound Asleep Records and the label Bigwig Enterprises, and although it had been named 'Whisper' by Lee and Moody, it was then forcibly named 'Sound Asleep' by Sound Asleep Records, which is why it is known by both names. This EP also includes the hidden track 'Ascension Of The Spirit', which was the first recorded instrumental made by the band, and in it's full version runs for over 11 minutes, although this is mostly silence, before a clip from the movie 'My Boyfriend's Back' that starts at 3:00, and then the actual music commences at around 8:19. For this post I've edited out all the silence to leave just the clip and the music. 

These EPs were followed in 2000 by a demo album, which was released on the Bigwig Enterprises label, and both 'Origin' and the EP's all contain demo versions of some of the songs which would later appear on their 2002 debut album 'Fallen'. As only 2,500 copies of 'Origin' were produced, Lee and Moody encouraged fans to download the band's older songs from the Internet, building up a loyal fanbase along the way. Possibly because a number of the songs from these early recordings later turned up on official releases, the EP's have not been compiled, and these versions of the songs are getting harder to find, so I've gathered them all together on one album, and also added a few out-takes from the recording sessions. From the first EP we have 'Give Unto Me', which is a dark piano ballad that Lee composed for her music class at age 14, and which was omitted from the EP due to its heavy religious influence, although an instrumental version of the song was included on their 'Sound Asleep' EP. Added to that are an early version of 'My Immortal' with different lyrics, an acoustic take of 'Understanding', and the otherwise unreleased 'October'. From the 'Sound Asleep' sessions we have 'Goodnight', which was written and performed for a local charity in Little Rock, and which was briefly considered for inclusion on their 'Sound Asleep' EP, but was omitted due to its more light-hearted feel. It was later released on a compilation CD in favor of the KABF 88.3 FM radio program Blitzkrieg in May 2000. And we end with 'You', which was a very personal song of Lee's that was conceived during the recording of 'Sound Asleep', but was omitted as Lee originally intended it to be heard by a select few people. Although the band originally asked fans not to download it, there are many posts of it on Youtube, so I'm including it on this album so you can hear it and make up their own mind about whether to keep it or not. 

Track listing

01 Where Will You Go

02 Solitude

03 Imaginary

04 Exodus

05 So Close

06 Understanding

07 The End

08 My Immortal

09 Give Unto Me

10 Understanding (acoustic version)

11 October

12 Give Unto Me (instrumental)

13 Whisper 

14 Understanding (Sound Asleep version)

15 Forgive Me

16 Ascension Of The Spirit 

17 Goodnight

18 You